The detainment of the journalist Evan Gershkovich became known in the morning of 30 March, when Yaroslav Shirshikov, a PR officer from Yekaterinburg whom he interviewed for an article, wrote about it on his Telegram channel. Shirshikov attached a screenshot from the local channel Vecherniye Vedomosti, which covers events in the Urals.
The article in Vecherniye Vedomosti which was published on the evening of 29 March, wrote: “One of our readers witnessed the detainment (or abduction) of a person in the centre of Yekaterinburg — outside the Bukowski Grill restaurant on Karl Libknecht street. [What were presumably] police officers in civilian clothes took the man away in a minibus. As they led the arrested person [onto the bus], they pulled a sweater over his head so that passersby could not see his face. Employees of the institution declined to comment. At the time of publication, official comment from the emergency services had not been obtained.”
Shirshikov explained that a couple of weeks ago, he’d given Gershkovich an interview about the general attitude toward PMC Wagner in Yekaterinburg society. He had also driven Gershkovich around the city and introduced him to other sources. In a conversation with the BBC, Shirshikov said that the journalist had come to Yekaterinburg to write about PMC Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his scandal with the Yekaterinburg governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev.
“Evan worked for a few days without issue and then flew away to Moscow. Yesterday I saw this news (in Vecherniye Vedomosti) and was immediately stunned. I think, “What the hell is going on?” And then I went off on some errands. Finally I went to bed, and around one in the morning I get a call from London. A man by the name of Thomas anxiously informs me that Evan returned to Yekaterinburg on Wednesday and hasn’t been answering any messages for more than 9 hours. Apparently, he gave my number to his editors in case something happened. And then I remember that Evan and I had lunch at the Bukowski grill, and that’s right near not only my office but also the office of another source. It’s not wild to assume that in an unfamiliar city a person will go to familiar places, right? Plus, Evan had asked me on Tuesday about a meeting for today. I didn’t know that he was [planning] to fly in yesterday. Apparently, he decided to gather material,” Yaroslav wrote.
Sure enough, the detained person turned out to be Evan Gershkovich.